Interesting to see the rising amount of imports towards Christmas time. Having the lowest amount in February to June, starting to double until November. Considering that due to Christmas Days the December is shortened by about 20%, we can estimate that December is a strong month, too. The January is usually used to exchange the money presents and vouchers under the Christmas Tree into goods.

The IT.NRW investigated the costs for the toys compared with the total consumer prices in 2021. It can be seen that the consumer prices had risen in a continuous manner, probably because the consumption of daily products is more or less constant over time, too. But it is interesting to see the old known economic correlation between supply and demand when looking at the toy market. Did you also feel this year that the news about a potential lack of toys for Christmas was with a bit of drama? We will see in the coming months whether it was justified and really some areas of the sales racks became or remained empty. In my mind, we did not suffer from quantities, but we suffered from the purchase price point of view. The correlation between the two graphs shows that in the time of low sales the products got cheaper by about 4%, but just in time for Christmas shopping, there we are at a plus of 4%. So there was a dynamic of 8% over the year. Sure, also 2021 was due to the pandemic an irregular year. Nevertheless, within Christmas time, some shops probably achieved profit.

Also interesting to see, where the Bavarian imports of the toys came from. Almost ¾ of imports were from the EU, 17.6% from China and 5.3% from the UK. Czechia and Poland had been the biggest importers. If you have ever visited Malta, you may be surprised that 6.8%, so 129 Mill. € were imported from that little island. It is somehow owed to Playmobil, which has a facility over there. When you have that little figure of Playmobil in your hand, it is quite sure it traveled from Malta into your home.

Imports of toys to Bavaria 2020 by country in percent

The Christmas tree informs which kind of toys had been imported to Bavaria. Please, feel invited to check below, whether your favorite toys may be mainly imported or not.

Could you imagine that one of the smallest members of the EU has such a big share in toy exports?
Could you find your favorite toy in our Christmas tree?
Please feel free to leave your comments.

The post Toys for Bavaria, A Short Delineation first appeared on Product Cluster Blog.

Anyway, back then it was always special for me to go shopping with my parents in the big city next door, or I would go downtown with my grandpa during a visit to my grandparents from that neighboring city. There at Corn Market 7 was the center of bliss, Roskothen, a walk-in huge department store full of toys and nothing but toys. From full-scale baby dolls for the very young to the still famous Steiff items and many more specialized products for the older and adult children. I am sure it is fair to say that all the toys for sale were here ready for the curious hands and eyes on 900 square meters. There were salesmen who spent their whole professional life there, so there were always satisfactory solutions. Since my parents often had to do their shopping, there was not always time to visit Roskothen. You had to think in advance what you wanted to look at, because to stroll through the store with its six floors was simply too big.

_{© https://www.frechdachs.de/}

At Christmas time, not surprisingly, the store was also full of customers. One needed patience in this time, until one of the many salesmen had time for one. So on the days when there was not enough time to enter the store, it remained with the enchanting view in the many shop windows of the corner building. It was so natural at that time to look at the artistic works of the trained window decorators. And they had a lot to do, because on the first floor there were six large shop windows to design, and on the second floor another eight for the larger toys that could be admired from the sidewalk above. Just now at Christmas time, the shopping streets were decorated with many light scenes, every year there was a motto for the light pictures. And so the brightly lit shop windows matched the Essen Light Weeks.

As it probably happens to many, there comes a time in life when new toys become uninteresting. Completely different interests come to the fore. But then comes with many again the phase, the reviving interest in toys. With me it was in such a way that in the meantime this world changed, the large toy shops were gone, an irretrievable loss, such Christmas, no longer experienceable, only in the memories. Today I see young people going into today’s toy stores, and I imagine I can take them for a moment into my old world….

Have you ever heard about that store? Or do you know some equivalent? What is your experience? Please feel free to leave your comments.

The post Kornmarkt 7, 43 Essen : Toy stores from the past first appeared on Product Cluster Blog.